The true story of how a monster like Fritz Haarmann (Kurt Raab) can
be allowed to flourish by a society that looks the other way. He is a petty
thief, panhandler, black marketeer, con man, police informer, pedophile,
and homosexual mass murderer of young boys. Fritz's story is told in the
style of a black comedy through the actions of his pimp lover (Roden),
his nosy neighbors, the corrupt police, and the flashbacks showing his
many misdeeds. The chilling story takes place during Germany's Depression
post-WW1, as the charming and enterprising Fritz operated as the "Vampire
of Dusseldorf" inducing runaway boys to come to his house for money and
food. He would then seduce them and scalpel off their flesh and sell the
remains as meat, being allowed to ply his trade freely because of both
police complicity and incompetence. Fritz is a look alike for Peter Lorre;
in fact, Fritz Lang's M
was influenced by his story and was made
six years after Haarmann was hung in 1925. Lommel's version, though rewarding
and unforgettable, made with the full complement of Fassbinder's regular
actors, is not for the squeamish. It is very graphic and filled with disturbing
German Expressionistic imagery. GRADE: B

Teorema is Pasolini's ("Salo") go at merging mysticism and political
allegory and homosexuality. Pasolini is the eccentric filmmaker, communist,
poet, and queer, whose intense work is an attempt to present the idealism
of Marxism and Christ as one philosophy. Stamp plays the Christ or Devil
figure who is the handsome guest in a wealthy Milanese factory owner's
home. He seduces everyone in the family gratifying their base desires,
including the father, mother, daughter, son, and maid, and then abruptly
leaves in the same mysterious way he arrived. This creates a new void in
their lives, since he was able to subtly get them to change somewhat in
their ways. But his departure has left them alone, unhappy and not fully
prepared to grapple with their new found values. Only the peasant maid
has the will to survive on her own. The point being that no member of the
bourgeoisie can do anything right, even if they have good intentions.GRADE:
B

A pointless revenge horror flick about an obnoxious
frat house that hires a train to have a masquerade party in. The students
celebrate their graduation in style. In their freshman year, the frat played
a cruel prank on Derek and he went bonkers. Now he comes uninvited aboard
the train and starts killing off the creeps who did that terrible thing
to him. When he kills them, he takes over their disguise. GRADE: C+

An overblown and overlong soap opera melodrama that many credit with
launching the Taiwanese New Wave. The debut film by Edward Yang intersperses
his own expatriate experience in the States (he worked for a major computer
company) with his perceptions of urban middle-class Taiwanese society.
Jia-li (Sylvia Chang) is the focus, as her unhappy story comes to light
via flashback as she runs into her childhood friend she hasn't seen in
13 years, Hsin-hsin (Teresa Hu), who is now a successful concert pianist
touring Europe. She relates her experiences to her, talking to her as she
never did before.

Jia-li rejected her father's arranged marriage and married beneath her
a rather simple fellow, Dei-wei. Her brother went into an arranged marriage
despite being in love with Hsin-hsin. Both marriages did not work out well.
After a tedious 167 minutes the mystery of what happened one day on the
beach, as Jia-li's hard-working but cheating businessman husband disappeared,
is not resolved but she feels ready to move on with her life as she walks
away from the beach to start her own business. Her brother tells her the
lesson learned from his bitter experience, is "everything depends on yourself."
There are moments the film is lyrical, rich with emotions, and gripping,
but there are too many other moments that it has nothing to say and is
filled with empty clichés and long-winded scenes that don't amount
to anything. The feminist point of view projected by Yang, is that the
odds are stacked against the women ever finding happiness in such a patriarchal
society. But the film was too dull and too ambiguous to do full justice
to the message sent. GRADE: C

A needy couple enters a competitive dance marathon during the '30s.
The dance floor is supposed to be a metaphor for America's ills. The film,
however, is too manipulative to have much of an impact. GRADE: C

The film is based on an actual incident that happened to director Allison
Anders. It's more of a cathartic film than an entertaining one. It's an
intense real-life dramatization of a virgin girl brutally gang raped as
a teen in Florida, Sherry (Kim Dickens). She is now a young adult rock
singer singing about her personal problems (including the rape) and is
growing in popularity but who suffers from the aftermath of that trauma.
She has become an alcoholic, has tried to block that rape out of her mind
without facing it, and has to live knowing that as a result of that rape
she can't have kids. Thankfully the flick has some good punk rock music
to ease the unease. Cheadle plays the manager of the band and Sherry’s
ex-boyfriend and nurturer. Eric Stolz is the unrepentant rapist, who is
now incarcerated for armed robbery. His brother (Gabriel Mann) is a writer
for a rock 'zine, who treks back to Florida and writes a story about the
rape--including his part in it. This gets everyone to confront their part
in the rape, and gives Kim a chance to get on with her life and not be
stuck on the rape being the most important thing in her life. One out of
six women in America have experienced a rape or an attempted rape, and
this film soberly details how traumatic that is. The subject matter is
certainly relevant. GRADE: C

An offbeat comedy/drama, about the search for love amidst the misery
of living. Lily is the camera store sales clerk whose lover has just dumped
her, and Andrew is the lonely real estate salesman and suicide hot-line
volunteer whom she talks to on the phone. They form a relationship when
he goes into her camera store and they meet without realizing they spoke
to each other on the hot-line phone. These oddballs give a very endearing
performance, that was both funny and perceptive.
GRADE: B

Rainer Werner Fassbinder's sick/dark comedy based on the premise that
the West German state secretly supports a terrorist group to mask and offset
its own repressions. The cast consists of RWF's regular ensemble players
plus Bulle Ogier and Eddie Constantine. Fassbinder takes a middle-class
Berlin terrorist cell which includes Schygulla, who is secretary to international
computer dealer Constantine and he nonchalantly watches them in action,
until finally betrayed by one of their leaders, August (Volker Spengler).
The group's slogan is "The World as Will and Idea." The best quote from
a philosopher is taken from Schopenhauer, "The existence of man is not
more important than a stone." The story was too muddled to be enjoyable
or informative, but you have to give Fassbinder credit for putting a different
spin on terrorists. GRADE: C-

British noir classic noted for its original Anton
Karas zither score and Robert Krasker's camera work. It matches the feel
and dark mood of post-war Vienna. Orson is the unforgettable Harry Lime,
charmer and black marketeer, while Cotten is the naive hack writer, an
old friend of Harry's, who slowly finds out how well he knew the old chap.
The scenes in the underground of the Vienna sewers are both surreal and
magical. GRADE: A

A brilliantly executed revenge film about a wealthy writer (Michel),
whose 8-year-old son is killed by a hit-and-run driver; and, he, thereby,
dedicates himself to the task of finding that driver and killing him. The
story takes place in Brittany. The film is Hitchcockian in style and presents
a most psychological take on one's motives.
GRADE: B
THIS MODERN AGE
(director: Nick Grinde; screenwriters: from a story Girls Together by Mildred
Cram/Ms. Cram/Frank R. Butler/John Meehan/Sylvia Thalberg; cinematographer:
Charles Rosher; editor: William Le Vanway; cast: Joan Crawford (Valentine
'Val' Winters), Neil Hamilton (Bob Blake), Pauline Frederick (Diane, Valentine's
Mother), Monroe Owsley (Tony), Hobart Bosworth (Bob's Father), Albert Conti
(André), Emma Dunn (Bob's Mother); Runtime: 68; MPAA Rating: NR;
MGM; 1931)

Lower-class Crawford meets upper-class Hamilton in Paris, but finds
her marriage plans are wrecked by the snootiness of Hamilton's family.
A fair film, but only because of its high energy level. I laughed at the
hollow dialogue for the wrong reasons. This is a formula, money-making
film, played to audiences of shop women of that era who fantasize that
their lives could suddenly become glamorous. GRADE: C

Thursday is the day of reckoning, hence the film's title.The moral of
the story is that your past catches up with you sooner or later. In the
case of Thomas Jane, it's a few years since he moved from Los Angeles to
the suburbs of Houston and gave up his violent drug dealing days to be
an architect and have a straight girlfriend (Paula). When his unreformed
drug buddy Aaron Eckhart returns for a short visit, the action begins and
his secret life falls apart. There are some creeps who are after Aaron's
drugs and two million in cash. They come calling on Thomas, as he is left
holding the stash bag for his friend. He gets raped by Dallas, LeGros nearly
chain saws him apart, and Rourke is the crooked cop who will kill him unless
he turns over the stolen money. The film is bloody. It seems to be about
gore over substance.
GRADE: D

A breezy gangster comedy with Robert Taylor in his first starring role
stealing the film, and the bachelor was also rumored to be romantically
involved with recently divorced leading lady Bruce. Virginia is the 22-year-old
daughter of Broadway wheeler-dealer King Bradley, who dies and leaves his
mostly sporting enterprise to his daughter from Iowa. The managers who
run his sporting interests and Taylor who runs his Casa Nova nightclub
conspire to swindle her out of her inheritance, as the shady lawyer Fielding
manuevers behind the scenes. Taylor at first is a willing participant,
but then changes his mind as he falls in love with Bruce. Typical lightweight
film of that era, but very entertaining. GRADE: B-
TO CATCH A THIEF (director:
Alfred Hitchcock; screenwriters: from the book To Catch a Thief by David
Dodge/John Michael Hayes; cinematographer: Robert Burks; editor: George
Tomasini; music: Lyn Murray; cast: Cary Grant (John Robie (The Cat)), Grace
Kelly (Frances Stevens), Jesse Royce Landis (Mrs. Jessie Stevens), John
Williams (H.H. Hughson), Charles Vanel (Bertani), Brigitte Auber (Danielle
Foussard), Jean Martinelli (Foussard), Georgette Anys (Germaine); Runtime:
106; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Alfred Hitchcock; Paramount; 1955)

A comedy-thriller from the master, but a more congenial film than his
usual fare. Grant as the retired cat burglar, living on the Riviera, catches
the thief who is imitating him. What keeps this mundane story from getting
too far below Hitch's standards, is dialogue like this: "Why should I steal?
I'm rich." "How did you get
rich ?" "By stealing." GRADE: B

The title comes from the Japanese code words for success. This large
scale WW11 movie, depicts the events leading up to and including the attack
on Pearl Harbor, told from both country's points of view. The Japanese
segments were done by directors Masuda and Fukasaken; and, they are interesting,
even though, they soft sell the Japanese position. Nevertheless, we get
to see the human side of our former enemies that few Hollywood pictures
have attempted to do. What the film fails to do is point the finger on
who was to be blamed for the mistakes of not being better prepared for
the attack: it does not allow these pols to be villified, therefore we
do not learn why Pearl Harbor was left so unprotected by the higher-ups--something
much discussed in history circles. GRADE: C+

An unfullfilling fable about a healer (Skeet), who is an ex-monk, now
working with alcoholics, and doing a little of God's work on the side.
Fanatical exploiter (Arnold) and con artist (Walken) try to cash in on
Skeet's ability to touch people and cure them as he bleeds like the crucified
Christ. There are some interesting things said about religion, but the
film lacks any vision and oomph to go anywhere but remain mildly intriguing.
GRADE:
C

This picture is funny and sad. It's about odd characters and losers
who hang around a Long Island bar. This small story is told with wit and
an ear for the inner being of these lonely people. These are real people,
not the inventions of Hollywood, and it is enjoyable to see what makes
them carry on the way they do. A recommended film. GRADE: B

A soapy, though intelligently told tale of bereavement and ghosts. The
heroine has lost her cello playing lover (Rickman) to a sore throat, but
who returns as a playful ghost. He even brings his ghost friends over to
watch videos such as the arcane arty flick, Forgetful Venice. You
have to love this film for its sweetness and focus on what could happen
if one can't get over such a loss. Juliet withdraws; that is, until she
meets Maloney, the art therapist. The film then gets a bit schmaltzy. GRADE:
C

Shelly plays a spoiled suburbanite who is pregnant by a high school
jock. Donovan plays a volatile character who can't get along with his pop
or his boss at his computer job. Naturally, these two misfits are fated
to meet and try their hand in romance. All it requires is trust. An offbeat
kind of sitcom, in the style of Woody Allen; that is, without the Jewish
neurotic characters. Very tart, nonsensical dialogue make for a satisfying
satirical look at middle-class Americans. GRADE: B+

Gallo gets out of prison and hooks up with his squeeze, Dickens. They
rip-off a drug dealer but to their chagrin, everything goes wrong and they
go on the run wanted by both police and the mob. Oh, yes, there is also
a kidnapping and a few more murders. An easy film to watch, if you are
in a mindless mood.
GRADE: C+

Shot during WW 1, in the Bahamas. A film noted for its special effects,
a precursor to the modern film. The camera work was done by the Williamson
brothers, using an underwater camera. This Jules Verne story places a heavy
emphasis on the preparations for war. Captain Nemo is searching for his
long-lost daughter. But it is, intriguingly, the story about a submarine
that Verne envisioned about 50-years before it was invented. This is a
beautifully told tale, in some ways better than Disney's superstar version.
GRADE:
B+

Financed by a white entrepenaur, Alfred Sachs, this popular black Western
hits the same spot that similar 'B' type of white Westerns do. Filmed on
a tight budget, Herb plays the cowboy who gets framed for the murder of
his boss Mr. Steele. GRADE: C

Conway develops amnesia after being hit on the head with a gun at a
murder scene and is suspected of the murder. A female cabbie (Rutherford)
joins forces with him as they search for the killer. Fair mystery story.
GRADE:
C

Reviewing Godard's film, 32 years after its release, it is easy to see
how dated it is. The Vietnam War serves Godard well, as he uses that to
show how de-humanizing the politics was at the time. The film moves along
at a quickened pace, shot in snapshot form. A housewife (Marina) with two
kids, expecting a third, is asked by her new husband to go back into prostitution.
An OK Godard. GRADE: B-